Conquering the Academy with Just a Sashimi Knife (Novel) - Chapter 92 - Finals (2)

Chapter 92 – Finals (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Choi Seol-ah’s pupils warped in shock. Not figuratively, but as if her heart had genuinely dropped. With a deathly pale face, she opened her mouth in a stammer.

“…Ha, ha. Hi, kids! I’m Instructor Kim, and I’ll be in charge of your team for this final exam! It’s only for a day, but let’s all get along!”

At Hoakin Academy, Choi Seol-ah was known as Instructor Kim. That didn’t mean Choi Seol-ah was her real name, of course.

When someone made a contract with a legion commander, they sold away their humanity. Their name from their human days was included in that.

“……”

A scorching frown beat against Choi Seol-ah’s profile. Kang Geom-ma was looking at her in silence.

Rachel, having noticed the blatant stare, felt hostility begin to flare at the corners of her eyes. She interpreted Kang Geom-ma’s gaze in an entirely different way.

‘A fantasy about older women.’

She was tall like a signpost, but aside from that there wasn’t the slightest curve to her appearance. And yet Kang Geom-ma couldn’t take his eyes off her. There was even a strange emotion circling in his pupils.

Because of the misunderstanding the situation had created, the atmosphere was growing colder with every second, like ice thickening over. It felt as though a scene from a melodramatic love affair might begin broadcasting live at any moment.

Choi Seol-ah tried to ignore the gazes fixed on her, but her body and even her tone stiffened.

‘Why, of all possible things, did I have to get assigned to that lunatic’s, no, that lunatic gentleman’s team!?’

Choi Seol-ah muttered inwardly. She made sure not to mix in any swear words.

In case he somehow caught on to what was in her heart.

Kang Geom-ma’s eyes were cold and still, as if reading her thoughts. Black pupils stripped completely of emotion. Even brushing against them for an instant was enough to fill her with fear.

‘Sigh, still, work is work.’

Suppressing her anxiety, Choi Seol-ah opened her mouth again.

“Come on now, even if I am beautiful, it’s embarrassing if you stare at me that hard, kids!”

“Beautiful, my ass. You look like a purple chestnut.”

Rachel let out a snort. A blood vessel rose in Choi Seol-ah’s temple even though she was smiling.

For the daughter of a noble house, her attitude toward an instructor was downright terrible.

“Hmm- Just because your chest is stuffed full of fat doesn’t mean you’re pretty, you pickled-radish-haired cadet!”

“You long-legged bitch!”

As Rachel’s eyes flared murderously, Choi Seol-ah sneered and said.

“What kind of tone is that toward your instructor, who stands above you in the heavens, hm!?”

“Ha, what? The heavens, my ass. Your chest is as flat as a stone floor!”

“My, no matter how stupid you are. Did you already forget why I’m here with you? I’m the instructor assigned to your team, assigned instructor. That means not only safety accidents, but `grading` too, is in my hands. So instead of throwing a pointless tantrum and dragging down your whole team’s score, let’s all stay quiet, okay? They say that if you keep your mouth shut, you’re already halfway there.”

“……”

She had spent five whole years eating Academy meals. By now she had long since learned how to crush the spirit of prideful, high-born cadets like this.

‘Collective responsibility.’

Rachel glared up at Choi Seol-ah. The way her molars ground together made it look like she was chewing on a curse.

Whether she did that or not, Choi Seol-ah just kept smiling brightly as she collected their weapons. With the death of her lord, the taste of power had vanished from her life, and she was savoring it like this instead.

Dong. Dong.

The sound of a bell rang out wide. It came from the great iron bell hanging from the top of the Special Hall.

Right after that, the enormous doors that had stood closed and imposing began to open with a sinister groan. Beyond the doors stretched a pitch-black backdrop.

At the resonance of magic power flowing out through the gap in the doors, the cadets let out low groans. Their eyes were filling with unease.

But Choi Seol-ah’s face held a deep nostalgia. This was what it felt like on the skin to visit one’s maiden home after enduring life in the in-laws’ house. The corners of her lips rose on their own.

“All right, shall we go!?”

Choi Seol-ah happily took the lead.

Kang Geom-ma followed after her with one hand thrust into his pocket, and Rachel and Hana senpai came along flanking him on either side like wings.

* * *

“Wow, this is the real deal.”

“Hey, shit, walk a little slower! Didn’t you come here to watch from behind!? What kind of instructor walks out in front!?”

As Choi Seol-ah walked at the front, she let out an impressed exclamation. Rachel immediately shouted back at her. Stumble, stumble. Her steps looked heavy.

“Puhaha, so you were all that swagger outside, but once you came in here you can’t get your senses together? You’re not strong on the outside and strong on the inside, you’re strong outside and weak inside, totally~”

“Haah, haah, when we get out of here, I’m seriously going to kill you.”

Ignoring Rachel’s grousing, Choi Seol-ah’s eyes sparkled as brightly as a child on a field trip.

For a villain like her, an eerie place like this was bound to feel like home.

Since she had been half-human and half-demon, her affinity with magic power must have been far higher than that of an ordinary human. Though perhaps now only scraps of that affinity remained?

When Choi Seol-ah had been assigned as our instructor, I had wondered whether some scheme was in play. A halfwit was still a villain, after all.

But in her eyes there seemed to be nothing but attachment to life. Suspicion? Hard to say… Other than that, she didn’t seem to be thinking very deeply about much at all.

‘Does selling your humanity make you simpler?’

Well, even if she did have some rotten scheme in mind, Choi Seol-ah alone wasn’t much of a threat. And if I sensed anything off, all I’d had to do was show her the sharp taste of a blade again. I withdrew my gaze from Choi Seol-ah and looked around.

‘This definitely isn’t ordinary.’

The moment we passed through the wall of darkness, what opened up before us was a barren woodland.

Trees, rocks, and streams spread out in equal measure.

But it was a barren woodland composed entirely of the ashen gray of colorless greenery. And each time one stepped down, the pebbles covering the ground crumbled away in a dry rustle. It looked exactly like what Earth might look like after the end of the world.

‘If a shrunken copy of the demonic realm looks like this, just how bad is the real Gehenna?’

Even the air was acrid and made my chest feel clogged. It was probably because of the lingering influence of magic power.

It wasn’t as bad as when I had met Agor or a demon, but the flow of the atmosphere was violent enough to make the hair on my body stand on end.

Rachel, for one, had grown much quieter since entering the Special Hall. With the way her face had turned sickly pale, the air must be affecting her pretty badly. You could train the body, but not the insides.

By contrast, Hana senpai simply kept her legs moving in silence. I asked her.

“How’s your body holding up?”

“For now, I can still endure it, but it’s definitely rough… You look fine, Geom-ma.”

“I’m not completely fine, but my skin does sting a little.”

“I feel like I could throw up any second, and for you it’s only a little stinging, huh, haha…”

Hana senpai let out a faint laugh. Judging from the subtle trembling in her knees, things were starting to get hard for her too.

‘…Looks like Hana senpai doesn’t had much magical affinity.’

Of the club members, she was someone who still left me suspicious. I hadn’t completely ruled out the possibility that she might be a villain who had infiltrated the Academy like Choi Seol-ah, but her reaction didn’t seem to be entirely an act.

‘I’ll keep watching for now.’

I flicked a brief glance at senpai and then turned my eyes back ahead. There was nothing but the endless gray barren woodland, with not a single landmark of any kind. I couldn’t even begin to guess where the first checkpoint might be.

On top of that, the magic power scattered through the air seemed to disrupt our sense of direction, making it feel as though we were just walking in circles. As proof of that, footprints that looked like they were ours had been left in the crumbling gravel path.

I had never thought it would be generous, but at this rate, even an hour was going to feel tight.

There was no way to gauge direction, position, or terrain.

‘At this rate, we’ll be disqualified.’

Would putting our heads together as a team even produce a proper solution? Rachel, that wild horse of a woman, was already sweating buckets as she walked, and Hana senpai, though in slightly better shape, didn’t look particularly healthy either.

Out of the whole team, I was the only one who still had a clear head. Had I developed resistance to magic power because of everything that had happened until now? Either way, it wasn’t the most important issue right now, so I decided not to dwell on it.

And just like that, since Rachel as team leader wasn’t properly fulfilling her role, I had somehow become the acting leader. Being the club president was already annoying enough, and now I was standing in for the leader even during finals…

But if I let this slide in a vague, muddled way, the question of what the exam reward might be still bothered me. The Academy’s educational policy was to give generous rewards in proportion to its harshness.

“…Hmm.”

If I wanted to use the sensory range of the Blessing of the Sword God, my sashimi knife wasn’t on me, so the range had narrowed greatly. That made me think about threatening Choi Seol-ah and taking the sashimi back.

But that would be an obvious reason for disqualification. If I were alone, I wouldn’t hesitate, but there were two sets of eyes watching me. I swallowed down the regret that had climbed all the way up the back of my tongue.

At the same time, walking in circles in place didn’t suit my temperament either. As a Korean by birth, I was used to doing things quickly. I kept walking as I sank into thought.

Wasn’t there some sharp little trick I could use?

A comfortable, fast, efficient method.

‘If only I could detect magic power somehow…’

I kept murmuring those two words to myself. Magic power and detection.

It felt as though I was on the verge of finding the thread.

…!

Right then, a current ran through my left temple and out the other side.

I lifted my head. My eyes met Choi Seol-ah, who was humming to herself with a bright expression.

Choi Seol-ah flinched hard, then scratched the back of her head and let out a nervous little laugh.

‘Found it.’

A scene I had once seen on the news flashed through my mind.

Dogs sniffing out drugs at airports.

I smiled back at Choi Seol-ah. Her shoulders began trembling. As if she had already sensed the shape of her immediate future.

* * *

At the same time.

Step, step.

A team led by Leon was crossing the wasteland. Behind him walked two women with exhausted expressions, Saki Ryozo and Erio Fine of the second-year Rang class. And trailing after them like a tail was a male instructor with a kindly face.

“Feels like we’ve more or less reached the first checkpoint, doesn’t it?”

Leon, walking at the front, turned back and waved his hand loosely.

A clear smile hung over his face, in contrast to the cadets behind him, who had gone pale.

‘…Isn’t he tired at all?’

This was an environment where even breathing made the depths of the lungs throb with pain. And yet Leon’s face looked almost glowing.

I had known he was a divinely chosen hero candidate, but to still be perfectly fine even inside the Special Hall, which was as close to the demonic realm as one could get. It was as if he were walking around his own home.

“Umm, Leader, could we rest just a little~?”

Erio Fine said, bracing her hands on her knees. Her pink hair brushed over her shoulders. Her breathing was fast and uneven.

Leon only blinked once, then answered with that same fresh smile.

“I think we’re almost there, so hang in there just a little longer, Erio senpai.”

“…Ah.”

Erio let out a faint groan, then lowered her head and nodded. At the sight, Ryozo’s brow wrinkled sharply.

“Hey, Leon.”

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

Leon tilted his head and asked back. His empty eyes showed no sense of problem at all. One of Saki’s eyebrows twitched once, and then she snapped at him.

“What exactly are you trying to do right now? Erio senpai said she’s tired trying to keep up with your pace!”

“Yeah, and?”

“Ha, and!? Are you seriously so unaware of how selfish you’re being right now?”

Leon looked blankly back at Saki and answered in a dry voice, like a machine.

“It’s not that I want to ignore senpai’s opinion. But as team leader, I have a purpose I need to accomplish and responsibilities I have to bear.”

“Responsibilities? To me it just looks like you got an armband and started playing boss!”

“Ryozo, you’re free to interpret my words however you want. But I have no intention of dragging along teammates who can’t trust me and follow me.”

“…What?”

“I don’t really know what the atmosphere is like in the travel club you’re part of. But you shouldn’t expect me to act like Geom-ma.”

The next moment, Saki’s face darkened and she shouted. It had only been a fleeting instant, but the sharp eyes of an archer did not miss it.

The moment he mentioned Kang Geom-ma, a chill had entered Leon’s gaze. She had seen unmistakable hostility toward Kang Geom-ma in his eyes.

“What does Geom-ma have to do with this!?”

“Nothing in particular. I’m just saying that unlike Geom-ma, I’m not that considerate.”

“Hey-!”

Without the slightest change in expression, Leon started walking again. Saki’s sharp voice struck his back, but he never turned around even once.

“What the hell is wrong with that guy!?”

Saki glared at Leon’s back with fierce eyes.

Erio, her complexion pale, kept walking with a faint smile as if to say it was fine.

Seeing that the anger still had not faded from Saki’s eyes, the male instructor following at the rear spoke gently.

“Now, now, when people are young, they grow up by fighting a little. And in a place like this, the burden on the team leader must be immense. Just try hanging in there a little longer.”

“……”

She still looked displeased, but Saki finally let out a long sigh.

‘We’re already having a hard enough time. Wasting strength here would just be stupid.’

Saki gave a small nod. The male instructor answered her with a clear smile.

She started walking again. Step, step. The sounds of the three of them sank into the gray gravel plain. The male instructor stared at their backs for a long while.

“Hmm.”

Something chilling flickered through his eyes as he murmured to himself.

“…So the Hero can sense magic power.”

The instructor’s narrow, sinister eyes opened wider.